Guitar Gavel

Leading up to the April 2nd debut of Brian's latest album, "New World Rising," this is the second in a three-part conversation with Brian in which we focus on the first half of his career. 

Brian and I discuss his early musical interests, a blend of pop, R&B, soul, blues and how the culture of New Orleans and southern Louisiana influenced his style. 

He tells us about his introduction to The Nev...

In this episode I sit down with solo artist, faithful band member, and prominent session guitarist Brian Stoltz.

This is the first of a few episodes we’re doing together leading into the debut of his newest album, “New World Rising”, out April 2nd. 

Like many, Brian’s interest in music began with the Beatles and a beater acoustic guitar. Before he could drive Brian was already playing country bars and juke joints in southern Louisian...

In this episode I have the honor of sitting down with Falcon Eddy of the Galveston Guitar Lounge. He takes us through his guitar journey that properly began as a teenager at Gibson's department store when he bought a Teisco Del Ray, amp, and case for $29.

Falcon Eddy moved up quick... next a Gibson SG and then a Gibson Dove. He even managed to trade a bass for a car!

A lot of his journey revolved around the ...

In this episode I have the honor of sitting down with Kevin, straight from his amazing Star Wars guitar room and man cave.

Kevin starts with his guitar origin story beginning with his dad's influences, his first guitars as a young kid, and the impact his brother and grandmother had on his musical interests.

We talk about extensively about EVH, cracking the code on his guitar parts, the reason for his book a...

In this podcast I have the pleasure of hosting a conversation with artist and guitar maker Robert Randall XI, yes the eleventh. He is a fantastic guy, super passionate and articulate, and his stories and lessons make for a great show. If you are a fan of "the process" and how unique artistry intersects guitar, then you don't want to miss this episode.

Robert's guitar journey began at age 10 when he sta...

There is so much goodness in this episode with Pete Flynn that I really struggled to write a concise, yet comprehensive summary of his story.

At the end of the day what I wrote did not do our conversation justice and nor was it concise, so here’s a “from the gut” synopsis:

Pete is a world class nice guy, a world class guitar player (and drummer), guitar tech, and now a world class pickups builder. His stories go...

David’s guitar journey began on a Behringer strat style guitar when he was 13, his foundation being metal and blues (an influence from his dad). The Behringer also became a sacrificial lamb when David decided to explore the guts of an electric guitar. 

From there, David started building his own guitars as a teenager furthering his home-grown knowledge, and setting the stage for becoming a professional luthier. 

Tinkering with pedals ...

In this podcast I sit down with Jerry Cherry- guitarist, singer/songwriter, and guitar instructor extraordinaire.

We talk about his guitar journey beginning at age 12 and how was super fortunate to be a member of an incredible band before he could drive and how that set the stage for the rest of his musical career. 

Key takeaways:

At age 17, being one guitar lesson short of really starting to understand musical theory and playing for ...

In this episode I have a candid conversation with singer, songwriter, guitar slinger, and guitar dealer Izzy Miller.

In Izzy’s own words, “I’ll tell you exactly how I feel about anything”, and that’s exactly how this one goes.

If you’ve followed Izzy on social media for any length of time you know he has a huge personality and a great sense of humor. It all shines through during the show, but most importantly, he...

In this podcast I have an amazing conversation with Frank Meyers about his fascination with vintage Japanese guitars and the resulting journey. 

Frank’s accolades include:

Author, “The History of Japanese Electric Guitars”

Monthly columnist for Premier Guitar magazine, “Wizard of Odd” 

Creator of the wonderful website, drowninginguitars.com with help from his friend Mike Dugan, and the @drowninginguitars YouTube channel 

Part of his ori...

“How many more guitars are you going to buy?”

In this episode I sit down with Michael Law, also known as Lawman Mike.

Lawman Mike is the proprietor of Lawman Guitars, a wonderful vintage guitar store and probably the largest vintage Cowboy Guitar dealer in the country.  

A guitar player since the age of 10, we discuss Lawman’s guitar journey and how it led him to becoming a vintage dealer, recording artis...

In this wonderful conversation with Adam we explore his guitar journey in which he summarizes his present day style as an “accumulation of multiple different phases” of music along the way. 

Those phases included a hardcore run of ACDC, Metallica, Gary Moore, and John Mayer.

His growth as a guitarist, which began at age nine, has most recently led Adam to exploring original music and writing his own songs.  
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In this Guitar Gavel podcast episode we hear from Westone guitar enthusiast and aficionado Keiran Wynyard.  A self-described hoarder, not a collector, Keiran walks us through his guitar journey and falling in love with Westone guitars. 

Keiran is more than just a Westone superfan, he also manages and co-manages websites, forums, and communities dedicated to the love of Westone guitars.  As owner of Westone in UK, Keiran i...

John Shults, guitar hunter and founder of truevintageguitar.com is this week's Guitar Gavel podcast guest. 

There is so much goodness in this podcast a summary just won't capture it all.  We hear from John about how he got his start flipping guitars, how it evolved into a business, and what the future looks like for True Vintage Guitar.

Along the way he shares some absolutely amazing stories of his succ...

In this Guitar Gavel podcast episode I have the pleasure of sitting down with Paul Kobylensky and we talk guitars, music, and his life as a copywriter in the music business.

Since Paul is a storyteller for a living, he’s got some whoppers in this show :-).

In addition to his behind the scenes work writing for household guitar and gear brands Paul is a writer for Premier Guitar. His latest article from September’s ...

In this episode I have a wonderful conversation with Laurence Carpenter of Rock Solid Investments. Laurence is a broker of high-end music memorabilia and artifacts based in Dublin, Ireland.

To give you an example of the type of memorabilia that Laurence brokers some of his current offerings include:  Kirk Hammett’s 1969 Fretless Wonder Les Paul used to record “The God That Failed Me”, Bono’s handwritten lyrics to U2’s “Wh...

In this episode I have the pleasure of hanging out with Michael Tash as he shares his guitar journey that really began at age 12 on a Montgomery Ward electric and Marlboro amp.

Mike’s blues band, Bad Influence, has been playing consistently since 1989 with only a handful of changes from the original line-up. Mike share’s the secret to their longevity and highlights a few of his favorite shows which include playing with Bud...

This podcast is Round Two with Chris Kelly as he was gracious enough to come back and answer the numerous questions we received after the first one.  

Chris has a storied tenure with legacy guitar brands such as Robin, Ibanez, Peavey, Budda Amps, Trace Elliot, and Composite Acoustic. Much of our time focused on the Ibanez years as Chris was Director of Artist Relations and headed up the Custom Shop from 1985-1994.

In this week’s podcast I have the privilege of hanging out with Chris Kelly. 

I don’t usually struggle for words, but it’s hard to put into writing where to start. 

My jaw was on the floor for most of the conversation, listening and laughing in amazement, but Chris disperses so much great substance in the mix you’ll listen to this one a few times.  

Chris has a storied tenure with legacy guitar brands such as Robin, Ibanez, Peavey, an...